The centralized control of elemental mercury emission from the flue gas by a magnetic rengenerable Fe-Ti-Mn spinel.

A magnetic Fe-Ti-Mn spinel was developed to adsorb gaseous Hg(0) in our previous study. However, it is currently extremely restricted in the control of Hg(0) emission from the flue gas for at least three reasons: sorbent recovery, sorbent regeneration and the interference of the chemical composition in the flue gas. Therefore, the effect of SO2 and H2O on the adsorption of gaseous Hg(0) on the Fe-Ti-Mn spinel and the regeneration of spent Fe-Ti-Mn spinel were investigated in this study. Meanwhile, the procedure of the centralized control of Hg(0) emission from the flue gas by the magnetic Fe-Ti-Mn spinel has been analyzed for industrial application. The spent Fe-Ti-Mn spinel can be regenerated by water washing followed by the thermal treatment at 450 °C with no obvious decrease of its ability for Hg(0) capture. Meanwhile, gaseous Hg(0) in the flue gas can be remarkably concentrated during the regeneration, facilitating its safe disposal. Initial pilot test demonstrated that gaseous Hg(0) in the real flue gas can be concentrated at least 100 times by the Fe-Ti-Mn spinel. Therefore, Fe-Ti-Mn spinel was a novel magnetic regenerable sorbent, which can be used for the centralized control of Hg(0) emission from the flue gas.